I clocked about 10 miles of running in these shoes in the Utah desert last weekend; my feet ached, but I'm sold.

Thanks to Newton Running shoes, five years ago I changed my gait from heel-striking to mid- and fore-foot landing. So the move to Vibram Five-Finger running shoes — or whatever they are (Shoes? Part of a lizard costume?) – wasn’t a transformational change.

But still, it was a biggie. The FiveFingers come without support. The only thing between my feet and the ground is a thin layer of Vibram. Before going on vacation in Dinosaur National Monument with a group of Boulderites (and a rogue bunch of Basalters), I spent a few weeks walking around in them, and even going on one three-mile mountain hike in Boulder.

In addition, I walked the 10k Bolder Boulder with my family in the shoes (and that ended up being 10 miles of walking because the wait for a bus back home was too long). But in the Utah desert, I was going to run. And I wondered: Would I ditch the shoes after a mile and return to normal trail-running sneakers? Would I destroy my arches and calves? Would I bang my toe on a rock and break something? I already had one broken toe, the result of a soccer game played truly barefoot a week before (I didn’t have proper shoes, we were just playing a bunch of kids, so I went barefoot. D’oh!)

How would I deal with a long weekend of, essentially, running barefoot? With a broken toe?

The pursuit of a healthier state through better living. The Denver Post's ColoradoFit blog features local experts on the latest fitness trends, active lifestyles and nutrition options in Colorado and beyond.